Playing With the Boys

This is the first time that we have lived near enough to other kids that we have been able to send our kids outside to play with their friends in our 'backyard', aka school campus/forest.  This is an exciting thing for any kid, but especially for John Hardy.  It means combining two things that he loves:  nature and friends.  Almost everyday he plays with his friend Nehemiah who lives next door and somedays he plays with another boy, William, who just lives two houses away.  Most days (at least before snow covered everything) the boys would go out and play a game of soccer or football, or find some adventure in the trees.  Now if you know John Hardy, you probably know that playing sports is not his absolute favorite thing to do.  On the other hand however, both Nehemiah and William are extremely passionate about sports in every way.  It has been interesting to see their friendship develop and to teach John Hardy that sometimes loving others means doing what they want instead of what you want to do.  It has also been funny to watch them try to settle their own disputes.  Sometimes they come to see if one of us will settle their argument, and sometimes they walk away saying, "I'm not going to play with you anymore."  But the wonderful thing about being neighbors is that always they come back the next day asking, "Can John Hardy come out to play?"

Here is a picture of the boys just before the holiday break....all smiles!